Tag Archives: betting and trading

Meet G-Unit, or as we lovingly call him, “Gandalf the White” (not because he’s a bit long in the tooth, but because he’s the wizard of developing the coolest betting & trading platform on the planet). Well, Gandalf didn’t always conjure up epic and magical code. He was born in Napoli, Italy, where he claims there is absolutely no mafia, so don’t even ask (the dons were very surprised when he graduated with a very wizardly degree in economics, after which he was sworn to secrecy on the whole mafia thing). In the spirit of thoughtful team interviews that allow our players and guests to take a dive into the world of betting, trading, and social games, we present our first look into the life of one of the dedicated people who make it all happen:

What was your proudest moment?
Birth of my baby girl Chiara

What is your second proudest moment?
Joining the betillion family

How did you get into the gambling industry?
I moved to the UK back in 2002. Offered a job at betfair. I had no idea who they were and what gambling was

What is the most interesting thing about gambling, according to you?
The professionals. They do not gamble, They are very much like traders in the city. They follow up rumors, they check stats, they try to make a strategy. Luck factor is for the average Joe

What are you working on now?
Re-engineering the current bet.tra.de platform (on which betillion is based). We’re moving from the typical start up monolith approach to SOA

Why is it important?
We need to be resilient, flexible, robust, and scalable for the change to come: horizontally and vertically. Low latency is not yet an issue yet, but we’re already working to address it when the game will be used for trading purposes by gazillions of users

How do you know the founders of betillion?
Through a trusted contact with whom I used to work in two different companies

Why do you buy into the betillion concept? Why is it special?
betillion is a completely different concept from traditional gambling games. It brings two elements. First, it allows for dynamic betting, which is very much luck based, comprising the very core of the app that revolves around trading said bets. The second aspect is very interesting. I still remember the study conducted by Stiglitz about the importance of information asymmetry. The game would level the field, as everyone would have exactly the same information available in real time (something that traditional games fail to offer).

What’s up for the future?
Making the betillion platform the envy of the gambling industry

Do you plan to buy any private islands off the coast of Dubai when betillion takes off and is wildly successful?
I was thinking of buying the Silverstone circuit, so I can keep my bike there and ride around the track whenever I like.

What do you wish you knew before you started working on betillion?
I knew it was going to be a challenge. But this is more than a challenge. It’s like a journey to the center of the earth by Jules Verne.

We are proud to have Gandalf on the team, and spearheading the betillion betting and trading social game, but if you ever want to hear more on our progress, or his work, please don’t hesitate to contact us through this website. As always, we are undergoing Beta testing of the betting and trading platform, and we encourage you to register to try the game during this exciting phase. Please visit http://www.betillion.com, or visit our Facebook and Twitter pages for real time updates.

According to the Telegraph, the betting industry’s take during the two-week Olympic Games in London this year will exceed that in Beijing 20 times over (maybe because China can’t cheat as easily this time, so the betting is more fair! Ha!).

Interestingly, over 3 million people will take the plunge in the world’s oldest social activity, betting, and place their first ever bet on an athlete or event in the London Olympic. And betting activity is on the rise. What was the most popular Olympics event? The biggest draw for Betfair, the world’s largest internet betting exchange, was the men’s 100 meter final.

During the event over 19,000 individual users placed bets on the outcome of the race. Usain Bolt was responsible for more than one record that day! Overall, Betfair saw slightly under 100,000 customers making bets during the two weeks, a record number for the firm.

Betting holds a special place in gamesmanship, and we hope this tradition continues.